MOSCOW, February 28 Sberbank uncovered a multi-stage scheme to deceive a resident of Novosibirsk, whose losses amounted to 5 million rubles, according to the bank’s materials on the cybersecurity portal “Cibrary”.
“At the end of 2023, a story of deception involving a substitution of identity occurred with a resident of Novosibirsk, Anastasia, a mother of three children. The woman’s financial losses amounted to 5 million rubles,” the report said.
First, the scammers contacted the victim on behalf of the new head of the company where the woman previously worked. The scammers used a legend with an FSB check against their former employer. As a result, they called her many times on behalf of “FSB curators”, “investigators” and intimidated her with the fact that “her involvement in the financing of a certain terrorist” had been established, and that “Anastasia could be prosecuted for participating in the transfer of money”, noting that bank employees may be involved in the case and want to frame the victim.
At the same time, the false investigators noted that they wanted help for the woman and warned that supposedly employees of the Central Bank would contact her. After which such a call did not take long to arrive. The victim received a call from an alleged employee of the “Central Bank security service”, stating that a loan had been issued for her, but the application could still be canceled — according to him, it was probably a fraudster working at the bank.
As a result, the scammers confused the victim and convinced her to apply for a loan for 2 million rubles at a bank branch. At the behest of the criminals, the woman transferred this money to a “safe account.” At the same time, the scammers have already gained remote access to the woman’s phone and linked their card to her Mir Pay application.
In addition, the woman took out another large loan from another bank, but now online, and using the same scheme she sent these funds to the criminals, thinking that she was transferring money from a certain “reserve fund” of the Central Bank “to cancel fraudulent transactions” to a “safe account”.